


Fist Bumps and First Dates

by glaciya



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Awkward Flirting, First Dates, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Protective Stephanie Brown, flirting through fist bumps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 17:45:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17084849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glaciya/pseuds/glaciya
Summary: My secret santa fic based on the prompt: Batfams reactions to Jason and Tim's relationship____“Thanks for coming to my rescue back there,” Jason says later, after they’ve eaten and are sitting in Tim’s flashy red car outside of Jason’s studio. He’d offered to take Jason home and Jason had readily agreed. “I owe you one.”Tim shakes his head. “I’m sure you didn’t know lying about me being your favorite would bring Stephanie’s potential wrath down on you.”Jason hesitates, fingers hooked around the door handle. “It wasn’t really-” he clears his throat, “I wasn’t lying.”Tim’s eyes go big and round. “Oh,” he says. “Oh. Okay, that’s-that’s cool.”Jason’s face turns red. “Goodnight,” he mutters and gets out of the car, making for his apartment as fast as he can without actually running.





	Fist Bumps and First Dates

It starts simply because Jason enjoys fucking with people.

Earlier in the night, Bruce called on everyone he could reach in such short notice to help find a series of bombs Joker had hidden throughout Gotham. Jason knew it must have been serious for Bruce to swallow his pride enough to ask for help, particularly help from him, so Jason didn’t hesitate to step up. He did make sure to inform Bruce that if he’d just let Jason kill the Joker, none of this would be a problem. Bruce only spoke to him in one word syllables and short commands for the rest of the night. 

Now, Jason’s standing on the roof of Gotham City bank with Dick, Damian, Stephanie, Cass, and Tim, watching as Batman shoves a grimacing, straight-jacket wearing, Joker into the back of a police car. He’s surprised by Bruce willingly asking for help too, it seems. 

The sight of Joker miserable sends a vicious thrill coursing through him, tingling in his fingertips and toes. He’s giddy with it. He wants to do something stupid; something Dick-ish. Like give out high fives. 

Except he’s Jason Todd, the Red Hood, and he doesn’t give high fives to anyone other than Bizarro. A fist bump to someone he tolerates might be acceptable though.

He looks around. Dick isn’t an option because he might turn that into permission to hug Jason, and Jason doesn’t want that at all. Damian would try to break his wrist if he tried, and Steph and Cass are both too far away. This leaves only Tim, who happens to be standing right next to him, tapping away at the tablet in his hand, likely getting a head start on his report for the night. Jason’s heard him calling it his RedBook. Nerd. 

When Tim notices Jason’s attention and tilts his head curiously in his direction, Jason raises his hand, fingers curled into a fist, and waits. 

Tim doesn’t move, and even though Jason can’t see Tim’s eyes through his cowl, he can feel the weight of Tim’s gaze flickering between Jason’s hand and his face, confused.

“Here’s to another couple months free of Joker terrorizing Gotham,” Jason explains, rather lamely. 

“Oh.” Tim gets it now. “You wanna-? Okay.” 

He lifts his gloved hand up and presses it against Jason’s, keeping the pressure light before he moves away from him immediately. It’s not like the epic, passionate, fist bumps Jason has had with Biz, but Tim didn’t leave him hanging, so that’s something at least. It makes Jason’s lips quirk, forming a full on grin when Tim’s lips curl up in response. 

“Oh look. The two biggest disappointments of the family are finally getting along,” Damian says suddenly, causing the smiles to drop off of both their faces. 

“Nothing’s more disappointing than an unplanned pregnancy,” Tim says sweetly.

Jason lets out a sound like, “Ooooooh,” because he’s an asshole. 

Damian sneers at them. “You two should go back to hating each other. You were much more entertaining that way.”

Dick decides to intervene then. “Dami, cool it,” he says, before turning to Tim. “You’re better than this, Timmy.” Tim bristles beside Jason while Stephanie starts snickering from the other side of the roof. “And Jason, was that really necessary?”

“No, but I don’t regret it. And, for the record, we aren’t going to go back to hating each other,  _ Dami _ ,” he mimics Dick’s tone and watches Damian scowl at it, knowing murder is on his mind. “Timbo here happens to be my favorite out of any of you.” He swings an arm heavily around Tim’s shoulders, and bites his tongue to avoid commenting on the way Tim tenses, then visibly forces himself to relax. Jason knows he probably deserves that. 

“Really,” Damian says dryly.

“Yup,” Tim says, just as dry. “Besties for life.”

Damian’s not the only one that seems shocked by this, Jason notes, casually flicking his gaze around them as Tim and Damian continue their bickering. Dick is all smiles, eyes drawn more toward Jason’s arm around Tim than anything. Steph has a calculating expression on her face as she watches Tim. The two of them always have been close, Jason figures she’s just being protective. Cass is the only one looking back at him with her usual calm expression. Her face would almost look apathetic if it not for the way her eyes were dancing with an emotion Jason can’t quite pinpoint. 

When she sees she has Jason’s attention, she mouths the word _ Careful _ , twice, as if trying to make sure her point gets across. Jason, thoroughly creeped out, returns his attention to Tim.  He really had only been trying to screw with Damian, but he knows what he said is true. Tim is definitely his favorite out of the group of dysfunctional vigilantes that patrol the streets of Gotham.

______________

Jason makes the mistake of underestimating Stephanie’s protectiveness and Cass’ curiosity, and finds himself surprised when Stephanie wakes him up by purposefully setting off the alarm in his safe house. 

“Hello,” she says, when he finally untangled himself from the sheets and aim his pistol at the threat.

“Fuck you,” Jason greets, dropping the gun. “I almost shot you!”

“I have a feeling you would have pointed your gun at me regardless of how I woke you up.” She’s wearing a lavender sundress and has her hair pinned up. Whatever perfume she’s wearing flows through Jason’s little studio. It smells kinda like happiness.

“What are you doing here?” Jason asks, knowing he won’t like the answer.

“I’m here to take you out to dinner,” she says. “You have a tux don’t you?”

“Dinner? But it’s only,” he snatches his phone off his bedside table, “oh damn, it’s six already?”

“Late night?” 

“Yeah. Roy got kidnapped by a cult that were under the impression if they killed enough red-heads, they’d be given the gift of eternal life. Had to disguise myself as a secret cult member to find out where they did their rituals at. Then, of course, I had to bust him out.”

“Sounds intense.”

“It was,” Jason agrees. “So much so that I’d appreciate having a day to myself,” he adds pointedly. 

Stephanie inspects the black polish on her nails. “I’d appreciate if you put yourself in the shower and got dressed, so I don’t have to do it for you.”

Jason opens his mouth. Closes it. Turns around to go find some clothes.

He makes sure to send a quick S.O.S text to Tim before he gets in the shower though. Whatever Stephanie has planned for him, he wants someone else there to mediate. 

_____

“Why the sudden interest in having dinner with me?” Jason asks as they drive through the city. “We’ve never been close.”

“Last week made me realize I don’t know enough about you.” Stephanie keeps her eyes on the road as she weaves dangerously through Gotham traffic. They’re driving in a fancy silver SUV that Jason assumes is Bruce’s. “That’s not something I’m comfortable with, especially if we’re going to be working together.” At a stoplight her blue eyes flip over to him. “Especially if you’re going to be playing buddy-buddy with my ex-boyfriend.”

Don’t underestimate Stephanie Brown, Jason’s instincts scream at him.

“And you decided to fix this by buying me dinner?”

“Oh I’m not buying you dinner.” Stephanie chuckles, pulling a shiny black credit card from her pocket with one hand while keeping the other on the steering wheel. “Bruce is.”

____

Tim and Cassandra meet them at the restaurant, much to Jason’s surprise. He did send the S.O.S text, but he hadn’t been able to tell Tim where it was exactly Stephanie was taking him to. 

“You told him,” Stephanie says to Cass, pouting.

Cass meets her pout with a calm gaze. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“He asked.

“Cass…”

“Stephanie.”

Stephanie crosses her arms but despite her posturing, she doesn’t look too upset. Jason doesn’t blame her, he couldn’t imagine being able to feel anything negative toward Cass. “Come to the bathroom with me. We need to regroup and strategize again since you’ve gone and ruined my master plan.”

Cass giggles, sliding out of her seat. “Okay.”

As the girls leave them, Jason quickly slides into the booth next to Tim, trying to convey the utter relief he feels that Tim showed up with a simple look.

Tim gets it. He smiles. “I got your text. I came for you.”

“My hero,” Jason says, a bit too fond. “Any idea what Stephanie is up to?”

“The only thing I can guess is that it has something to do with you recently declaring me as your favorite.” Tim shrugs. “She’s been asking a lot of question about you since then.”  

“Is she worried I’ll corrupt her boy toy or something?”

“She’s probably just being protective, but I doubt she’s worried about you corrupting me,” Tim says. “I can bad when I want to be,” he adds, lowering his voice.

Something flutters in Jason’s stomach, like angry butterflies, as he leans closer into Tim. “Oh yeah?”

“Mhm. There was even this one time where I…” Tim pauses then to look around them, as if checking for eavesdroppers. He leans into Jason some more, their foreheads almost touch, and whispers, “Well, in a moment of pure recklessness, I...I ripped the tag off my mattress.”

“Tim, they specifically tell you not to do that on the tag,” Jason scolds, fighting the urge to laugh. 

“I know.” Tim’s eyes light up, bright and blue and so, so pretty.

“Not even I would do that.”

“I _ know. _ ” Tim’s voice cracks, laughter slipping through in little giggles. “I-”

“Well it looks like you two are getting along fine,” Stephanie’s voice pops the bubble they had built around themselves and they both jerk back away from each other quickly, panicked mirrored on their expressions. “I don’t think a shovel talk will be necessary after all.” 

_____

“Thanks for coming to my rescue back there,” Jason says later, after they’ve eaten and are sitting in Tim’s flashy red car outside of Jason’s studio. He’d offered to take Jason home and Jason had readily agreed. “I owe you one.”

Tim shakes his head. “I’m sure you didn’t know lying about me being your favorite would bring Stephanie’s potential wrath down on you.”

Jason hesitates, fingers hooked around the door handle. “It wasn’t really-” he clears his throat, “I wasn’t lying.”

Tim’s eyes go big and round. “Oh,” he says. “Oh. Okay, that’s-that’s cool.”

Jason’s face turns red. “Goodnight,” he mutters and gets out of the car, making for his apartment as fast as he can without actually running.  

______

When Tim’s name flashes on his ringing phone at eleven am, two days after his confession, part of Jason is tempted to ignore the call. Embarrassment floods through him, but he still can’t resist swiping to answer.

“‘Lo?”

“Hey. Are you busy?”

“I mean, I just-”

“Because I kinda need to call in that favor you owe me.”

Jason sits up in bed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “From our double date with Steph and Cass? What do you need?”

“I’m at work and Bruce is about to make me join him in intern interviews in a hour, Jason, and I cannot sit through another round of dealing with these trust fund kids who have decided that, because their dad shook Bruce’s hand once at a party three years ago, they deserve this job more than the other candidates. Jason, I just can’t.”

“So, you want me to come rescue you?”

“Please,” Tim groans into his ear. “I don’t care how you do it, just get me out of here.”

“Okay, chill.” Jason chuckles. “Just hang in there a little longer. I need to shower and then I’ll be on my way.”

“Hurry.”

____

In the end, Jason is too tired to come with any grand plan to get Tim out of there, so he decides to waltz right through the front door at Wayne Tower, smiling dashingly at the receptionist to get her to tell her where Tim’s office is, and take the elevator up to the very top floor, two venti peppermint mochas in hand.

Bruce is the first to spot him, from his fancy chair in front of his fancy huge desk with the fancy glass window overlooking Gotham behind him. Tim sits next to him, looking small compared to Bruce and very bored as he reviews the packet of papers in front of him. Then, Bruce mutters something and Tim jerks his head up, eyes locking with Jason.

Jason gives them both a little wave, trying to stamp down the weird fluttering in his chest when Tim appears visibly excited to see him. He’s probably just happy about the coffee Jason is holding in his hand. 

Tim stands, leaving Bruce behind in the office as he makes a beeline for Jason. Bruce follows of course, keeping a slight distance. Jason can’t read the expression on his face, but it isn’t a full on scowl, so Jason assumes he’s safe from being tossed out the window, for the moment.

“Jason,” Tim greets, when he’s standing in front of Jason. He has to tilt his head up to maintain eye contact while they’re standing close.

“Tim,” Jason says. He lifts one of the coffee cups for Tim to take. Their fingers brush when the cup passes between them and sends a tingle all the way down to Jason’s toes. “I came for you.”

“My hero,” Tim says his part dryly. They both smile at the familiarity. 

“Jason,” Bruce says, interrupting the moment. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to pick up Tim,” Jason states. “We’ve got plans.”

Bruce arches a brow. “Do you really?”

“Yes. I had completely forgotten about it,” Tim speaks up then, sounding apologetic. “It’s a really important uh...It’s just important.”

“What’s important?” Bruce’s gaze turns sharper. “Does it have something to do with the rodent problem?” Rodent problem is code for vigilante stuff. Jason wonders briefly how many employees at WE think Wayne Manor has an infestation. 

“No, no.” Tim shakes his head. “No it’s just umm…”

“It’s a date,” Jason says, carefully watching Bruce’s reaction. Carefully not watching Tim’s reaction. “Our second one to be exact.”

Bruce opens his mouth then closes it. Opens it. Closes it. 

He’s speechless, Jason realizes, and feels like he could fucking fly.

“A date,” Tim repeats. It almost sounds like a question. “The second one.”

“The first one was with Stephanie and Cass,” Jason clarifies. He chances a glance over at Tim and finds him red in the face. 

“Well if it’s a date, then I guess you’d better not miss it,” Bruce says. He sounds strangled. “Have-have fun.”

________

“Hey Jason,” Tim starts his rambling question on their elevator ride down, “you know how when you said I was your favorite and I thought you lying just to fuck with Damian, but then you told me it was the truth?”

“Yeah?”

“Is this date…?”

“I was fucking with Bruce,” Jason says honestly but continues speaking before he can let Tim down. “But I wasn’t lying either.”

“Okay,” Tim says bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. “Okay cool. So. Second date. What do you want to do?”

Jason takes Tim’s hand in his, curling their fingers together. “Whatever you want."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked this, feel free to leave a comment and/or a kudos!  
> You can also find me screaming about fandom stuff at [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/glaciya)  
> [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/glaciya) and [Twitter!](https://twitter.com/glaciiya)


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